Pivoted window sash



June 13, 1961 B. F. GRIFFITH 2,987,783

PIVOTED WINDOW SASH Filed Sept. 3, 1958 FIG. 2

FIG. 4

INVENTOR BENJAMIN F. GRIFFITH BY 59mm PAT E NT AGENT United States Patent 2,987,783 PIVOTED WINDOW SA'SH Benjamin F. Grifiith, Wheeling, W. Va.; Kenneth E.

Griffith, principal and William Pastoria, surety, administrators of said Benjamin F. Griffith, deceased Filed Sept. 3, 1958, Ser. No. 758,727 1 Claim. (Cl. 20-49) This invention relates to pivoted window sash, primarily for facilitating washing of the outside surfaces of the window panes conveniently from the inside of the building, thus obviating dangerous washing positions while hanging on the outer sills, such as commonly assumed by professional window cleaners when cleaning the outside surfaces of window panes.

The object of this invention is to make the window sash rotatable on centrally located horizontal pivots between the sides of the sash and the corresponding groove slide portions of said sides.

A further object is to provide said groove slide portions with friction springs on their outer surfaces to take up the side play and hold these portions resiliently in shallow longitudinal depressions in the outer side edges of said sash.

A further object is to provide pins for the pivots slidably extending from the outer side edges of the sash directly through corresponding bores in said groove slide portions against the respective bottoms of the window slide grooves, a compressed spring being mounted in said sash back of each pin to resiliently urge said pin outward- 1y thereof.

A further object is to thus maintain alignment between the sash and the groove slide portions thereof, by means of the friction springs exerting a pressure tending to keep these portions in said shallow longitudinal depressions along the outer side edges of the sash, whereby when the sash is rotated out of this alignment it will somewhat spread the slide portions and compress the friction springs to substantially freeze the slide portions against vertical displacement in their grooves while the window is tilted out of normal vertical alignment.

A further object is to provide depressions in the grooves to frictionally catch the outer ends of the pivot pins at a desired height of the sash raising movement at which it is desired to rotate the sash out of its normal alignment for washing, or ventilation adjustment or other purposes.

A further object is to attach the counterweight lines to the upper ends of the slide portions which always remain in the slide grooves, and on which the sash is pivotally suspended.

Other and more specific objects will become apparent in the following detailed description of a preferred form of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a window with double sash made in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is the same view showing the sash rotated on their pivots out of alignment with the slide grooves,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of a portion of the sash showing the construction of its sides, parts being broken away to show the friction springs and counterweight line attachment to the upper end of the slide portion, and

FIG. 4 is a further enlarged detail sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

This construction provides easy access to both sides of the sash by suspending each sash on central horizontal pivots at the sides of the sash, whereby it may be rotated about said pivots when desired.

The window illustrated has the usual window frame construction with a pair of adjacent side grooves formed between groove strips set in the inner surfaces of the "Patented June 13, 1961 frame sides 11. Each sash 12 has a pair of groove slide portions 13 provided with friction springs 14 for frictional contact with the bottom of the groove, and for resiliently urging these portions 13 into the shallow longitudinal depressions 16 in the outer side edges of the sash, thus holding the window sash normally in alignment with the grooves for normal raising and lowering movement with its groove slide portions sliding in the grooves.

A horizontal pivot pin 18 is slidably mounted to extend laterally from each side about midway of the sash, through a bore in the corresponding groove slide portion 13 in which the sash is supported. A spring 20 mounted in the side of the sash frame back of the pin 18 biases it outwardly against the bottom of the groove. One or more depressions 22 in the bottom of the groove may be used to provide a frictional stop for the sash at desirable positions, by catching the rounded end 24 of the pin 18. The window frame and sash frames may be made of any suitable materials, such as wood, plastic, aluminum or other metal. 'If the frame is made of wood, the depressions 22 may be lined with wear-resistant material 26.

The groove slide portions 13 and the longitudinal depressions 16 may be arcuate in cross-section at their point of contact, whereby to cause a wedging action on the portions 13 outwardly against the springs 14, whenever the sash is turned on its pivots out of alignment with the grooves, and portions 13 which are held therein. The increased pressure of the springs 14 against the bottoms of the opposite grooves obviously provides increased friction against vertical displacement of the window in the grooves until the sash is again returned to its normal vertical position, into which it will readily snap as the portions 13 are sprung back into their respective longitudinal depressions as the sash is turned closed to the vertical position.

='Ihe usual counterbalance cords 28 may be fixed to the upper ends of the portions 13 for balancing the weight of the sash in its normal vertical sliding operations.

When it is desired to turn either sash on its horizontal pivots, it is raised or lowered slightly from its respective end position in the window frame, to free the corresponding end of the sash from its end groove, and then with sufiicient turning force applied to the sash it may be caused to wedge the portions 13 out of their respective longitudinal depressions, forcing them deeper into their grooves against the pressure of their friction springs to substantially lock them against vertical sliding, so that there is no chance of accidental sliding of either portion 13 and its pivot bearing out of horizontal alignment with the opposite portion 13 whilethe sash is turned out of vertical engagement with the portion 13. While the sash is in its normal vertical position, such sliding of either portion 13 without the other is not possible, because the intervening sash frame has an extended contact with both portions pressed into the longitudinal depressions 16 in its side edges by the friction springs 14.

The sash may be turned completely around its horizontal pivots, when the other sash is turned out of its way as shown in FIG. 2, so that its outer surfaces may be turned inwardly for each cleaning, for replacing broken panes, or for other purposes. Also, turning both sash into substantially horizontal positions provides a full window opening for ventilation purposes, which is not possible with the conventional sliding double sash windows. The present sash being pivoted centrally are substantially balanced on their pivots, so that the slight friction provided by the portions 13 biased against the sides of the sash at the pivots is normally sufi'icient to hold them in any turned position, as may be desired to control deflection of air flow through the window, or to control light reflections by suitable angular adjustments of the reflective surfaces of the sash.

Many obvious modifications in the detaiis of construction'of the basic arrangement of parts here illustrated may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is: a a a In combination with a window frame having apair of strips forming longitudinal side grooves on the sides of the frame, a window sash structure having a pair of longitudinal groove slide portions mounted within the side grooves of the window frame for lateral movements inwardly and outwardly of said window frame saidgrooves;

friction springs carried, by the inner faces of said longitudinal groove slide portions fortirictional contact with the bottom of the longitudinal side grooves of said window frame and normally urging said longitudinal slide portions outwardly of said window frame slide grooves, the sides of said window sash having depressions formed longitudinally thereof for receiving the outer faces of said longitudinal groove slide portions, theouter facesvof said longitudinal grooveslide portions being normally retained in the window sash longitudinal depressions by said friction springs, a horizontal pivot pin mounted'in each side of said window sash and extending laterally therefrom through a bore in each said longitudinal groove slide portion toward the bottom of 'the longitudinal side grooves of thewindow frame, adepression ionnedvmtthe bottom, of each longitudinal side groove of said window frame for receiving the outer'end of each said pivot pin whereby the window sash is retained in position relative to said window frame, and a spring mounted in the side of the window sash back .of .said pivot pin for urging the pivot pin toward the depression in the bottom of the longitudinal side groove of the window frame whereby said window sash is rotatable on an axis provided by said pivot-pin when forces are applied against the window sash to cause the longitudinal groove slide portions to move laterally toward the bottom of the longitudinal side grooves of the window frame thereby disengaging the outer faces of the longitudinal groove slide portions from the longitudinal side depressions of said window sash.

References Citedin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 554,231 Bolles l Feb. 11, 1896 658,818 Whitner .Oct. 2, 1900 7783370 Pattenet al Dec. 27, 1904 918,270 Bofird Apr. 13, 1909 2,379,528 Kelliher July 3, 1945 

